North Korean ministry launches website to promote "policies and improve diplomatic relations"

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry has launched its own website to promote “policies and improve diplomatic relations”, state media reported on Friday. “The website will help promote understanding of North Korea’s foreign affairs and policy and help boost ties with other countries,” the Korean Central News Agency said in a statement. The website (www.mfa.gov.kp), divided into eight sections, discloses that the ministry has 11 departments. Two of these departments are for Asia (one for China, Japan and Mongolia and the other for the rest of the continent), one for North America, another for Russia and the former Soviet republics, one for Europe and yet another for Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, reports Efe news. However, the website does not mention who is heading these departments nor those directly assisting Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho. The website, which can be viewed in Korean and English, also includes a section for photos, official statements by the ministry and news. The news section contains articles by KCNA, including one on the recent repatriation of American student Otto Warmbier, who died on Monday in his home state of Ohio. Warmbier, who spent 17 months imprisoned in North Korea for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster on a student trip to Pyongyang, was returned to the US in a comatose state on June 13. Analysts believe that, through the website, North Korea seeks to expand the scope of its positions at a time of escalated tensions with the US and increasing isolation in the international arena owing to episodes like Warmbier’s death and the country’s continuous arms tests.